


All That Shame And All That Danger

by ThatDamnKennedyKid



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Break Up, Cheating, F/M, Female Uchiha Itachi, Female Uzumaki Naruto, Getting Together, Implied/Referenced Cheating
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-05
Updated: 2019-09-05
Packaged: 2020-08-10 20:02:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,176
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20141182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatDamnKennedyKid/pseuds/ThatDamnKennedyKid
Summary: Crouched in an alley, rain-soaked and crumbling under her desperation, Itachi curled even tighter around herself. She'd tried calling Sasuke six times, then his girlfriend Naruto four times. Her eyes weren't blurring from the rain and her chest wasn't constricting because of the tight material of her dress.She'd been wrong to think that anyone would love her for anything other than what she had to offer them.





	All That Shame And All That Danger

She'd met him for the first time at a gala, where he'd been wandering aimlessly and looking more than a little bored. She'd been interested in his vaguely disgusted expression and approached him. Their gossipy small talk had turned into genuine interest and she learned that Takeru was to take over his father's company much the same way she was being groomed to inherit hers. Their parents had been thrilled, immediately pushing them together. She'd gone along, because she liked him, and there were worse people in the gala alone to spend the rest of her life with. 

She'd dated him for three years and only grown more genuinely invested in him during that time. She wondered if she'd managed to find love in a nearly-arranged match, and had come to believe she had. She'd accepted his proposal swiftly and gratefully on their four year anniversary. 

It started to rain after she'd turned away from the restaurant. 

It was a nice place - all deep cherrywood accents polished smooth with dangling fairy lights that cast an intimate, warm atmosphere. The furniture was wood and leather, classy and expensive. There weren't a lot of people, but these places were never full. It would ruin the ambience, the illusion of public privacy. The tinted, but see-through windows kept out the glare of traffic, but set the stage for the peasants walking past to see wealth dance with romance, the ideal date night for new dalliances and old alike. The type of place that a romcom would have the lawyer male lead take the flustered female reporter, where they would drink and she would come to think he was less of a dick than everyone believed. 

Itachi'd never been one to believe in those situations, but she found herself in one tonight. 

She was supposed to be in here, meeting her fiance. Her father had let her go early, since Takeru had just returned to Japan, so she'd not done more than slide into a black dress that hugged her body and pinned her hair up before hurrying here. She was on the other side of the glass, standing on the street and watching the way Takeru's eyes lit up as the brunette sitting next to him chased his whiskey with her tongue. He didn't look at her the way he did this nameless woman. She was only half an hour early. She wondered how many times she'd been the second woman to walk into a restaurant or bar after his others had gone? Did they even know about her?

Takeru stood to walk his date out of the lounge area that served as the seating area for the bar when he spotted her standing there, watching them. The brunette spotted her too and flushed red in shame, muttering a goodbye and scurrying away. Takeru traded stares with her until it became evident that she wasn't going to move. He walked over and poked his head out the door. 

"Are you going to come in or what?"

She moved on autopilot, following him over to a reserved table and sitting across from him. She didn't speak as he ordered them dinner, the waiter apparently having been waiting for them. How long had this been going on? How long had she been second in her own relationship?

"Itachi."

She met his gaze, but she was just as frozen as she'd been twenty minutes ago standing on the sidewalk. He sighed, running his hand through his hair. 

"You look surprised."

"Should I not be?"

He scoffed. "There's no need to pretend, _dear_. This is the world we operate in. We get matched by our parents, smile and kiss for the cameras, take care of our actual wants and desires behind the scenes."

She didn't answer. This was news to her. Her own parents were deeply in love. Her younger brother had declared he was going to marry his best friend when they were only four and the two were so grossly devoted to each other it was hard to look at sometimes. Nevermind that Naruto was the daughter of an infamous Oyabun and her sweetheart assassin husband. Her cousin, Obito, was happily married to a woman named Rin who's eyes never wandered. Shisui and Izumi were expecting a baby and Shisui vibrated in excitement whenever someone brought it up. She thought she was going to join them soon. 

Takeru reached across the table and took her hand. "Look, it's alright. I know about your lovers too. It's a good arrangement. We marry, pop out a kid or two, pass them off to the nanny and live our lives as we want to."

"My lovers?"

"Well, yeah. I mean, Kakashi's around you all the time, so are Genma and Tenzou. It's perfectly natural."

Kakashi was her personal secretary and a friend of hers since university. One of the few. Tenzou was an old fling of Kakashi's who met his soulmate in Genma, and those two men ran advertising and graphics together. She'd not even kissed one of them. The closest she'd come was passing out with them after finals, all four of them tangled together on her massive bed and making up for the sleep the last week hadn't afforded them. 

He raised his eyebrow at her. "It's who how it is, Itachi. No matter who you're with."

"I see." She managed. 

"Good. I'm glad."

"Excuse me." She stood, leaving her untouched food, and walked out of the building. 

"Hey, Itachi, wait-"

She didn't stop, pulling out her phone. She called Sasuke six times, each voicemail making her insides clench even more. She gave up and started calling Naruto, but with each denial, she started to actively hyperventilate. If she'd been in a better state, she would have just called a cab and let herself into the Uzumaki house, where she knew her brother now lived, and been taken care of by Minato. She still lived with her parents and Takeru lived in the mansion with her. But in a right state she was not, and when the emotional strangulation finally overwhelmed her, she ducked into an alley and slid down the wall to sit, crouched on her legs, trying to breathe. The sky had opened up sometime during her walk and brought her hair down with it. The inky locks were hanging around her, limp and cold, dripping water like her face was dripping the tears she'd been repressing. 

She didn't even realize she'd been shaking until a large shadow crouched down to her level. 

"Rough night, honey?"

She looked up, meeting the gaze of a mixed-race man who was large enough to block out the dim street lights. 

"C'mon. Let's get you inside. You'll die out here otherwise."

"I-" She cleared her throat. "I can't feel my legs."

"That's alright. Is it okay if I touch you? I'm going to carry you inside."

She nodded weakly. "Okay."

For such a large man, he was surprisingly gentle, very carefully picking her up and bringing her into the darkened back room of what was apparently a bar. 

"My name's Kisame." He said. "Hoshigaki Kisame."

"You're Japanese, then?"

He chuckled. "Half. My father was, but my mom was a Jamaican woman he met in the United States when he was in college. I've got citizenship in Jamaica and Japan."

"Ah. My name is Itachi."

"Full-blooded, I take it?" He offered a toothy grin. 

He entered the main part of what looked like a low-end community pub and set her down on a well-loved chair. The lights were all on, and she got a good look at her rescuer. 

"Do you not have any family?" He asked, kneeling in front of her and checking over her arms, legs, neck and face. Aside from her mascara running down her cheeks, she didn't think she looked too terrible. For the situation, anyway. 

"My brother wouldn't answer the phone and neither did his girlfriend."

"Is this the first time this has happened?"

She'd never been in another long term relationship. "Yes, I suppose so."

"Do you work alone or for someone?"

She paused, and frowned. "Pardon?"

He returned from behind the bar with a fluffy towel. "Was it a client?"

It struck her then what he'd been implying from the beginning. "I'm- I'm not a prostitute."

He shrugged. "Darlin', there's no shame in sex work. Oldest job in the world. I'm just trying to help you."

She wrapped herself tighter inside the towel. The little black dress, baggy with water and heels high enough to break your ankle in, running mascara and hiding behind a pub - what else would he think? She didn't even have in her to be mortified, since she could already hear her mother's voice in her head doing it for her. "Is this something you do often? Let in poor women out of the rain?"

Kisame barked sharp laughter. "Often enough to have that towel on hand."

"Do you own this place?"

"No." He rubbed the back of his neck, crouching again to remove her shoes, waterlogged and ruined. "I was in the French Foreign Legion for a long time. I just came back. A friend of a comrade got me this job. A man I served with, Kakuzu, became pretty good friends with me overseas. When we came back, his boyfriend Hidan said his other friend, Deidara, was looking for a bouncer for his pub. And here I am. I close it after everyone else has gone home because I don't live too far and no one messes with me late at night."

"I'm not a prostitute." She repeated, swallowing thickly. "I found out my fiance was cheating on me."

"Ouch. How did you find out?"

"Saw him kissing her in a restaurant."

"Damn. That's shitty. How long were you together?"

"Five years in a few months."

He whistled. "That sucks even more. Do you have a car?"

"I got dropped off by a coworker." She didn't even think about calling Kakashi, but she probably should have.

"If you want, I can drive you home or let you crash at my place." He sat back. "No pressure. Whatever you want."

She looked down at her hands. "I don't know. What time is it, even?"

"Close to two in the morning."

No wonder she'd found her way to the seedy part of town - she'd walked for the better part of three hours in a stupor. "My phone died on the way here. Can I stay with you overnight?"

"Of course. I'll grab you some of my old clothes and you can change and dry off some more in the bathroom before we go."

"Thank you, Kisame."

"Anytime, Itachi." 

* * *

Kisame's apartment was small and old, but tidy and clean. She drowned in his clothes, one of his shirts coming down to her knees, but she felt much better after taking the bath he recommended. She smelt like his soap now, which wasn't entirely unpleasant. She definitely felt better with the mascara and foundation scrubbed off. 

"Damn." He said when she entered his bedroom, hair wrapped up in a towel and shoulder slipping through the neckline of his shirt. 

"Hmm?"

He stood, tapping her nose. "You've got freckles. How cute."

She wrinkled her nose, but his chuckle brought a smile to her lips. "I'm not cute. I'm fearsome."

"Like a panther cub, maybe." 

She pulled the towel out of her hair, rubbing it drier and hanging it on the back of his door where she'd taken it from. 

"I don't have a lot of furniture, unfortunately, or I'd offer to take the couch."

"You've been a gentleman thus far. I'll trust that." 

"What, not a fan of scoundrels?"

She laid her dress on the back of an old chair. Hopefully it would be dry enough to wear tomorrow. "I've had my fill today, I think."

"Rascals, then."

Her lips quirked up without her permission. "Maybe a rascal."

He got into the double bed first, pressing himself against the wall so she wouldn't feel trapped. 

"Where did you learn all of this?"

"I was a peacekeeper for a while too." His smile fell a little. "There's nothing worse than watching a woman shrink away from you when all you want to do is help her. Or when another woman in only slightly better condition tries to protect her friend. I just figure, now, that I'll keep all that intimidation away form anyone who doesn't deserve it. Especially in possibly sexually charged situations like this one."

It would be easy for him to overpower and rape her, that was true, but he just didn't seem the type. 

And, perhaps, she didn't care as much as she should. 

She slid into bed next to him, settling down near the edge, but still close since he was so large. He reached above himself and flicked a switch that shut off the lights. 

"Sleep well, Itachi."

"You too, Kisame."

* * *

Sasuke opened the door to the Uzumaki Manor and felt his heart stop. 

"Oh. I didn't know you would be home."

A beat up car pulled away from the curb. They must have been who dropped Itachi off here. Were they responsible for why she looked like this? He memorized the plate as the pickup drove away. 

"Yeah. Naruto and I were over working with Nagato last night." He let her inside. "Are you okay?"

She took his hand. "Don't be upset with Kisame, Otouto. He helped me last night when you didn't answer your phone."

His eyes darkened at her rumpled dress, disheveled hair and ruined heels. "What happened?"

She winced. "Can I clean up and borrow some clothes? I don't really want to feel like this any more."

"Of course." He squeezed her hand and led her through the house, unfortunately running into Naruto on the way. 

"Fuck me, what happened?" The blonde barked, abandoning her ramen. 

Sasuke shook his head and they communicated without words in the strange way they'd had since they were kids. 

"Alright. I've got some black tights roughly her size in my bottom drawer. She's probably be more comfortable in your sweater, since mine are all orange. She can also have a pair of my Timberlands."

Sasuke kissed her cheek and continued upstairs. In his bedroom with Naruto, there was an en suite bathroom he led her to. "You know all my products, feel free if you want to shower. Otherwise, there's a brush, toothbrush and morning cleanser in the first drawer. I'll leave the clothes at the door and meet you downstairs."

"Thank you."

He kissed her forehead. "Anything for you, Aneki."

She closed the bathroom door and slumped against it with a sigh. She only took a few minutes to wallow in how shitty she felt before she got to work untangling her hair and washing her face. She borrowed some deodorant and brushed her teeth. She dressed in the proferred clothing and hesitated at the top of the stairs. It was quiet, which only meant one thing:

They'd told Kushina. 

She got into the foyer, finding Minato sitting alone in the living room, Naruto's voice wandering in from the kitchen but incoherent. 

"Hey, Itachi." Minato said, opening up his arms to her. "Come tell me about it."

For a second, she considered refusing, but ultimately rushed to him and crawled into his arms, curling up on his lap and hugging him for all she was worth as she began to cry. 

"Who was the man in the car?" He asked quietly. 

"Kisame." She mumbled into his shirt. "He found me in the rain and let me stay with him."

"How did you get there?"

"I wandered. Wasn't paying attention." She hated herself and her foolishness for a furious second. "Takeru cheats on me. I saw him, in a restaurant. He's been doing it from the beginning. He admitted it."

Minato stroked her hair, holding her close and just letting her cry herself dry. Kushina, on the other hand, rounded the corner. 

"That dickface did what?!"

"Mom-"

"Kushina-haha-"

Ever since Sasuke proclaimed Naruto his wife in grade school, Kushina and Minato had been steady figures in her life. She was over often to babysit the two and the couple considered her and Sasuke to be children of their own. Not that Mikoto and Fugaku were bad parents - rather, the Uzumaki household was just more supportive and outgoing, unbound by the pretensions and restrictions money brings.

That, and Kushina was the most feared, respected and ruthless Oyabun in Japan. Every Oyabun answered to her and those that had refused found themselves under Minato's knife.

Minato himself wasn't from Japan, rather, Australia and had a well-established career as a ballet dancer. Both of his parents had been mixed-race, half Japanese and half British Aussie, hence the brilliant blonde hair and blue eyes. He's met Kushina after a performance and fell in love instantly. He left the Sydney troupe he'd been with and followed her to Japan, where he insisted on being incorporated into her work. Out of him, she'd moulded the Yellow Flash, the deadliest assassin on in Pacific Asia. After he killed off Danzou Shimura, an advisor with designs on her life, she married him. Minato spent so much time with her when she was young, he actually taught her how to dance as well. Naruto had never been much for it. 

"I'll suffocate him with his own dick." Kushina roared. "I'll kill him!"

"Mom, you gotta let her tell the whole story." Naruto reasoned. 

"Have a glass of wine." Sasuke offered. "Help you calm down."

"Minato, kill him." Kushina ordered. 

"Which him?"

"There- There's two?"

"Yes. Kisame or Takeru?"

"Do both."

"No!" Itachi sat up, wiping her face. "Kisame helped me! Don't hurt him!"

"He brought you here looking like that. He must have done something." Kushina scowled thunderously. 

"My dress and shoes ruined in the rain last night. He offered me clothes, but he's huge. Besides, he was very kind." 

Naruto, leaning around her mother, raised an eyebrow. Kushina, however, in unconvinced. 

"These actions are so unlike you. Are you certain, on Sasuke's life, that nothing foul happened?"

Smart and manipulative of Kushina to bring up Sasuke. "Yes, I am certain."

The Oyabun eyed her dubiously, but sighed eventually. "Fine. Just Takeru, then. Any objections to that?"

The shame-faced brunette who'd been kissing her fiance flashed through her mind. "I'm not saying no, but I'm not saying yes."

"Gotcha." She glanced at Minato, who nodded, and that was the end of that. "So, how about you stay over the night? We'll take care of the rest."

"Alright." She slumped into Minato's side when he offered her another hug. 

* * *

Takeru was moved out of the Uchiha estate two days after Itachi saw him in the restaurant. He informed the Mikoto that he'd ended his engagement to Itachi on a friendly note and thanked her for having him in her house. 

He limped back to his parents' with his left leg fractured in three places and a scab from a kunai on his throat. 


End file.
